Top Two Complaints About Nonprofit Finance Committees from CEOs: Too Hands On and Not Hands On Enough! (And What You Can Do About It…)

After nearly three decades listening to nonprofit Executive Directors and CEOs, I can tell you — the number-one frustration sounds something like this:

“My finance committee is either too hands on… or not hands on enough!”

And both sides of that coin are equally frustrating.

💡 The Real Culprit: Role Confusion

Most nonprofit finance committees don’t intend to overstep. The problem lies in role confusion.

Many finance committee members (often highly skilled professionals from the for-profit world) arrive eager to help — but they think their job is operational. In reality, their role is about governance finance — strategic finance leadership, not financial management.

Here’s how that confusion shows up:

Too hands on:

• Fixating on line-by-line expenses or debating costs of supplies.

• Imposing corporate accounting frameworks that don’t fit nonprofit standards (yes, ASNPO and the Accounting Standards Board of Canada matter here not IFRS!).

• Drifting into staff-like supervision instead of providing strategic oversight and leadership.

Not hands on enough:

• Missing the chance to create multi-year long-term financial plans that guide the organization toward long-term financial sustainability.

• Neglecting to develop a reserve strategy that sustain operations beyond just focusing on the emergency reserve (think special projects and opportunities, capital purchases and repairs...).

• Struggling to connect the dots between the organization’s financial business model (revenue structure, cost structure, capital, and financial infrastructure) and its resilience.

🌱 How CEOs/Executive Directors Can Reset the Balance

If you’re an Executive Director or CEO or a Finance Director, here’s how you can shift your committee from “too hands on” to “just right”: 

• Start the conversation about roles Clarify that the finance committee’s role is governance finance, not financial management (unless you’re an all-volunteer organization).

• Shape the narrative, literally! Don’t send raw spreadsheets without context. Provide financial narratives that tell the story — progress on key financial KPIs, top-level revenue and expense variances, and clear, timing-adjusted projections. > When your financial reports focus on insights, not inputs, you guide your committee toward strategic finance leadership rather than tactical management.

• Share reports that encourage the committee to take on the development of a long-term financial strategy with goals and key performance indicators. Aim where you would like the focus to be.

🧭 For Finance Committee Members and Treasurers

If you serve on a nonprofit finance committee, here’s a quick self-check:

• Check your focus. How much time do you spend analyzing the past versus planning the future?

• Think macro, not micro. Are you spending time on macro questions focused on the reserve strategy, and oversight of financial goals and key performance indicators? Or are you spending time focused on minor variances?

• Do you understand how your organization’s revenue structure, cost structure, and capital structure, and finance infrastructure all work together and where the points of vulnerability that need strengthening are?

When you focus your energy on the governance finance, you elevate from micro-oversight to true strategic finance leadership. 

That doesn't mean that you no longer review the financial statements, it just puts oversight in balance with governance.

 🚀 The Payoff: From Micro to Macro

When a finance committee embraces its governance role, the whole organization feels it in the short and long term. 

They become strategic stewards — champions of foresight rather than keepers of spreadsheets. And that shift — from micro to macro — fuels the kind of financial resilience every nonprofit needs, especially these days.

• Staff feel trusted and empowered.

• The board feels empowered and better equipped to make decisions 

• And the organization builds financial strategies focused on resilience.

So next time your committee meeting starts veering toward diving deep into every budget line and variance, gently guide the conversation back toward sustainability and strategy. Strike the right balance between leadership and oversight.

Your future self — and your mission — will thank you.

Onward and upward.

Betty Ferreira FCPA, FCMA

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